Convert Shapefile to CSV
The attribute table plus the coordinates, in a file Excel opens. Free, and nothing leaves your browser.
or drop the .zip, or the .shp, .dbf and .prj together
How the conversion works
- 1
Choose the shapefile as one .zip, or select the .shp, .dbf and .prj together.
- 2
Each record becomes a row. Every DBF field becomes a column. A point becomes longitude and latitude columns in WGS 84, reprojected through the .prj; a line or polygon becomes a wkt column that QGIS can read back as geometry.
- 3
Download the .csv. It opens in Excel, Google Sheets, pandas, and in QGIS through Add Delimited Text Layer.
What the CSV contains
Coordinate columns nothing filled are left out, so a polygon shapefile gives its attributes plus geometry_type and wkt.
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
| <field name> | One column per DBF field, named after the field, values as the .dbf stores them. |
| longitude, latitude | Decimal degrees, WGS 84, for point shapefiles. |
| geometry_type | Point, LineString, Polygon or their Multi forms. |
| wkt | Well-known text of a line or polygon, in WGS 84. Pick this column as the geometry when you load the CSV in QGIS. |
What it does not do
- The wkt column of a detailed polygon layer can be very long. Excel truncates a cell at 32,767 characters; QGIS and pandas do not.
- Without a .prj the coordinates are written as they are, in the shapefile's own units, with a notice.
- Z and M values are dropped.
- Files up to 50 MB together.
Questions people ask
- Does my shapefile get uploaded?
- No. The .shp, .dbf and .prj are read in your browser tab. Nothing is sent.
- I only want the attribute table.
- Convert, open the CSV and delete the wkt and geometry_type columns. Or drop only the .dbf together with the .shp; the page needs the .shp to know the record order.
- Why are the coordinates in degrees when my shapefile was in metres?
- The .prj was read and the points reprojected to WGS 84, so the CSV loads in any tool without a CRS question. Leave the .prj out to keep the original units.
- Can I get the CSV back into QGIS as polygons?
- Yes. Add Delimited Text Layer, geometry definition Well known text, geometry field wkt, CRS EPSG:4326.
- My accented text is wrong.
- Add the .cpg file from the same folder so the .dbf encoding is known.
Other free tools
- CSV to Shapefile
- KML to CSV
- Shapefile to GeoJSON
- Shapefile to KML
- GeoJSON to CSV
- Shapefile to KMZ
- KMZ to CSV
- CSV to KML
- KML to GeoJSON
- GeoJSON to KML
- GeoJSON to Shapefile
- KML to Shapefile
- CSV to GeoJSON
- KMZ to KML
- KML to KMZ
- KMZ to Shapefile
- CSV to KMZ
- KML to GPX
- GPX to KML
- KMZ to GPX
- GPX to KMZ
- Merge GPX
- Coordinate converter
- All free tools
Next, open it in QGIS
Every one of these files loads in QGIS in one dialog. Once the points or polygons sit on your imagery, the two TerraLab plugins take over: AI Segmentation detects the objects the file is missing, AI Edit renders a project on the map.